Wild Weekend

This weekend City Boy loaded up his family and hauled us over the mountain for a non-horsey day in Winthrop. The drive was lovely, as evidenced by the above photo, although the top of the pass still had plenty of snow. 6' pushed off to the sides in some spots! And while we did hit cloud cover and sprinkles driving down the other side, by the time we got to town it was lovely out once more.

Unbeknown to us, there was some sort of festivity taking place just outside of town, where tents were pitched and mountain men were hawking their wares.

Darling liked the looks of this hat, but with the lowest priced chapeaus starting at $100, we passed on that and purchased her a few scraps of fur instead with which to create her own, including a little skunk tail as well as his itty bitty face. We think she'll make a lovely little stinker.

Darling and Avalon struggled to bond at home.

Avalon has made great strides this past week. Great for Avalon, that is. On Friday morning I decided she needed to be at Greenhill where it would be easier to work her. Rains have been pelting us here and the paddocks a soggy mess once again, making it difficult to work a horse still dragging a lead rope around.

While her leading skills are not great, Avalon's following skills were good enough to get her into the horse trailer with no hesitation, and before she knew it she was at her new temporary home. Avalon is very insecure, so it's been good for her to learn she doesn't need to worry when people wander in and out of the barn. Over the course of the weekend we've been able to start turning her out into the big paddocks along with Empire and Goody, an old Thoroughbred mare who acts as baby sitter. Not surprisingly, when put into this new situation Avalon has become much easier to reach out and touch. She can even go ropeless because she comes straight up to us when we walk into the pasture. Still a little jumpy, she at least is allowing Darling to handle her a little more each day.

Empire has some play time in the paddock.

Empire, by stark contrast, is more than ready to go to work each day. She's thrilled with people coming to visit and has learned to trot with a bit of coaxing while on the lead. Darling hauled her to the Laurel Farm open House last weekend (below) as well as the riding club where she practiced walking over poles. A little pushy and impatient, Empire does need to work on her willingness to stand quietly, but she's a cute little filly with a lot of personality.

Darling introduces Empire to new faces at Laurel's open house.